North America was the third place regional leader last year in terms of installed wind capacity with a total of 52,184 MW, according to the latest annual statistics recently released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

The US saw an additional 6,810 MW of new wind power capacity added to various grid systems in 2011 while Canada experienced an increase of 1,267 MW, GWEC reported.

By the end of last year, the US had a total of 46,919 MW of installed capacity, GWEC reported, while Canada had 5,265 MW.

Harnessing offshore wind would be cheaper for the U.S. than continuing to drill for oil and gas off the Atlantic coast and it would also create more jobs, according to a new report issued this week.

An analysis by Oceana, an international organisation focused on ocean conservation, also found that a modest investment in offshore wind could supply almost half the current electricity generation on the East Coast.

The report, called “Untapped Wealth: The Potential of Offshore Energy to Deliver Clean, Affordable Energy and Jobs,” noted that the disastrous consequences of the April oil rig explosion and leak in the Gulf of Mexico underscore the high costs of heavy U.S. reliance on fossil fuels.

Further proof of China’s desire to aggressively tap into the still nascent, and potentially highly lucrative, offshore wind power sector as part of its plan to embrace a green energy revolution was revealed earlier this week in a story by ClimateWire.

The story, published by Environment & Energy Publishing and distributed by The New York Times, also pointed out just how much further China is ahead of the US in developing its offshore wind industry.

“What the U.S. doesn’t realise,” the story quoted Peggy Liu, founder and chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, as saying, is that China “is going from manufacturing hub to the clean-tech laboratory of the world.”

San Diego-based wind power developer Cannon Power Group and Gamesa Technology Corp. Inc. have agreed to build a series of huge wind farms known as the Aubanel Wind Project in Baja California about 25 kilometres south of the US-Mexico border.

The deal reportedly would see the installation of up to 500 wind turbines near the town of La Rumorosa in a region recognised as having one of the best wind resource areas in North America. Construction is expected to begin within 12 months and the project, which could cost up to $1 billion, will be built in phases over the next three to four years.

“This will be a win-win for Mexico and the United States — the clean power and jobs will be shared on both sides of the border,” Gary Hardke, Cannon’s President and Managing Director, said in announcing the project.

“We envision this as a major cross-border project — potentially in excess of a billion dollars — that can both stimulate the region’s economy and provide enough clean energy for over 250,000 households.”

A Cannon statement said the Aubanel Wind Project is expected to be one of North America’s largest wind farms with a potential capacity of 1,000 MW at various stages of development. The first phase of the project calls for the installation of between 70MW to 100MW of wind turbines.

Power produced from the initial phase of the project is expected to be sold to customers in Mexico first. While the project is expected to create substantial employment and economic development opportunities in Baja California, much of the equipment will likely come from the US where Gamesa has manufacturing facilities.

Dirk Matthys, Gamesa’s CEO in North America, described the agreement as exciting and said it “will further strengthen Gamesa’s leadership in the Mexican market where we already have a substantial presence.”